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by AngryData 1091 days ago
Is a temporary boost worth developing a reliance on such medication? From what ive seen your body quickly adapts to the testosterone, and while it feels good initially eventually you are back to the same baseline, except now if you stop taking it you will feel even worse as the levels drop below what your initial baseline was to start with. And many people will resort to taking even higher and higher doses, chasing the "high" that they got from it initially.
3 comments
brigadier132 1091 days ago
No there is no baseline reversion for exogenous testosterone. What happens is that your natural ability to produce testosterone disappears.
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adastra22 1091 days ago
What about supplements like KSM-66 or other T “boosters.” Do these decrease your baseline production if you stop taking them?
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sooheon 1091 days ago
They seem to hardly effect your baseline production in the first place, so little risk?
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ryanwaggoner 1091 days ago
I’m 40, was on TRT for a year, quit for a year because of hair loss and fertility, then have been back on for the last six months. The initial high doesn’t last past a couple months, but I’ve always felt much better on TRT than off. The baseline is steady, not declining.
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biohacker85 1091 days ago
This sounds exactly like all other addictive drugs, such as opiates. Diminishing returns combined with physical dependence.
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jychang 1091 days ago
As someone who is generally against testosterone supplementation… hell no that’s a terrible comparison. How extrogenous testosterone affects the HPTA axis and the returns/dependence, is nowhere near what opiates do to your mu/delta opioid neuroreceptors.

Opiate neuroreceptors autodownregulate, for one, so that means tolerance/dependency gets worse over time. That doesn’t happen with testosterone at all. Also, TRT would not have diminishing returns, after you get past the first few weeks. Some of that is tuning E2 levels, etc; most of it is psychological result of expectations (think placebo effect).

You risk issues at common doses, like cardiovascular damage (which tend to be higher doses than TRT), but these issues don’t compare with opiates.

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